Saturday, June 05, 2010

flotilla fancies

A week after the tragic events which followed the interception of the Gaza Aid flotilla by the Israeli military, here are some thoughts. I have restrained myself from becoming embroiled in the discussions which immediately followed the killings of the activists by the Israeli commandoes; so much has become merely the entrenchment of existing positions made even more strident and more violent by the events on the Mavi Marmara. what occurred upon the Turkish ship was it seems to me the tragic consequences of propaganda and rhetoric coming into stark conflict with reality. The Israelis, and their supporters have portrayed the pro Gaza protesters, and those on the convoys, and ships as all terroristic jew haters; whilst still believing that they were really dealing with ISM style hippies. Thats why they stromed the ships armed with paintguns! Meanwhile the politics of AntiZionism has been becoming increasingly violent in its rhetoric about Israel and its behaviour toward the Palestinians. Previous positions, whether 'two states' or a democratic and secular 'one state', which had been the mainstays of the Left have been sidelined by the growth and influence of radical Islamism, both within Palestine and the power of Hamas, and in the wider movement. Open and explicit Anti Semitic themes have become more common, and have been left unchallenged within the Anti zionist movement. Israel is accused of committing a Genocide on the people of Gaza, and of acting toward the Palestinians as bad as, if not worse than, the Nazis toward the Jews. And yet, when attempting to break what they themselves descibed as 'a medieval siege' they seemed to think that Israel would respect International Law and not attempt to physically prevent them going to Gaza. Some of the activists even took kids with them!

"daddy are we going to centerparcs this year", "no son we are going to lift the siege of Gaza and halt the Zionazi genocide!" "yay!". When the Israeli commandoes abseiled on to deck of the Mav Marmara, this mess of rhetoric and reality met head on; Turkish Islamists attempting to defeat the might of the Israeli State armed with sticks, and Israeli commanders continuing to drop soldiers singly into a armed and angry crowd.